Maths Difficulty Level for Berk and Bucks CEM

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binnu1
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon May 26, 2014 4:45 pm

Maths Difficulty Level for Berk and Bucks CEM

Post by binnu1 »

Hi Everyone,

Can someone please throw some light on the level of maths we should prepare for cem. As the tution centers are doing maths to a unrealistic level for a 10 yr old.

xx
parent2013
Posts: 452
Joined: Mon Aug 12, 2013 10:13 am

Re: Maths Difficulty Level for Berk and Bucks CEM

Post by parent2013 »

Level of maths varies for school/exam if you know what I mean. Speed is the key for CEM. There are obviously some harder questions embedded in between to slow one down.

Which tuition centre you are going to? Stop going - it is that simple and do DIY. :)
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: Maths Difficulty Level for Berk and Bucks CEM

Post by southbucks3 »

There seems to be such scaremongering at certain tuition centres, part of the conspiracist in me thinks it is to keep the customers paying for extra tuition, the other part thinks it is because if they pitch really hard and the child struggles they can respond with the "we thought he was struggling" statement, rather than parents saying they dud not pitch at the right level.

Dump the tuition centre, they must be destroying your child's confidence, find an independent tutor if you need one and focus on maths and english core skills without creative writing or spag. You can do non verbal reasoning at hone easily with books.

The maths for bucks cem from what I gather is not hard, but fast and occasionally confusing, e.g.wordy or formed in many different ways, in order to get fast the child needs total confidence in their ability, this is terribly hard to achieve if they are working at levels beyond them, due to pushy tuition centres.

Are you after a bucks 121 pass or a berks super selective the level required is hugely different and in my opinion the choice should be made now, not after the stress of not achieving a super selective level pass. A child should be made to feel successful at achieving entrance to any school that is suitable for their needs, not unsuccessful at achieving entry to a particular school of local prestige. Think carefully and realistically about your child's ability and where they would like to go to school, when asked most kids want to go to the nearest school with their friends. What level is that school?

As a direct, less emotional response I would see how quickly they can complete the tests in schofield and Simms mental maths level 4, if fast and correct, move on to level 5. These two books seem to be a realistic level of attainment for 9/10 year olds. Obviously not a complete picture but a good start.

Good luck
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: Maths Difficulty Level for Berk and Bucks CEM

Post by kenyancowgirl »

southbucks3 wrote: A child should be made to feel successful at achieving entrance to any school that is suitable for their needs, not unsuccessful at achieving entry to a particular school of local prestige. Think carefully and realistically about your child's ability... Good luck
I think this sums it up for me, actually! Depending on whether you/the tuition centre are aiming for super-selectives or a standard pass really depends on what level your child needs to be at. If the level of the maths is way beyond their current ability it is either because the tuition centre is raising the level (to weed out any who can't cope) and/or because that is what is needed for the target schools, in either case, this probably isn't doing your dc any good confidence wise and it maybe that the target school isn't for them.

I may be wrong but you sound a little (di)stressed in your OP and I would echo parent2013 and southbucks that, honestly, if this is how you and your dc are feeling, please do consider moving them out of the tuition centre either to an alternative or home preparation or even away from the GS system. It is very much a case of horses for courses with schools not a one size fits all.
Azure
Posts: 107
Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:19 am

Re: Maths Difficulty Level for Berk and Bucks CEM

Post by Azure »

southbucks3 wrote:As a direct, less emotional response I would see how quickly they can complete the tests in schofield and Simms mental maths level 4, if fast and correct, move on to level 5. These two books seem to be a realistic level of attainment for 9/10 year olds. Obviously not a complete picture but a good start.
Please, what is a 'fast' time for these books? My DS is half way through level 5 in year 5 and does them around 35-50 mins depending how tired he is. What times should they be achieving a finished paper to level 5a/6c?
berks_mum
Posts: 939
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2013 4:52 pm

Re: Maths Difficulty Level for Berk and Bucks CEM

Post by berks_mum »

Agree with some posts here.

OP I went through this phase some days ago. My imagination is, Tution centres and some publications would rather overdo the subjects to cover their back even if it means just touching the topic or going tangent. In this process they have the coverage check box ticked but the child is overloaded. Reality probably lies somewhere in the middle.

I have told DD that there will be some questions that she won't know how to do but she has to move on and do the ones she can. I think both bucks and berks school say that there is nothing out of KS2. If I remember correct, one of the FAQs in bucks mentioned only up to Yr5 syllabus. So it could be possible that there are no questions on Ratio and proportion. However, that may not be the case in berks and other schools.


Tuition centres have now devised three courses, one basic, two advanced (in summer) and three 'second round' preparation for superselective grammars(autumn term of Yr6). I don't know if all three are required or not.
Parents are dependent on the tuition centres due to lack of information. I haven't found a list of definitive Yr5/ks2 maths topics yet.
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: Maths Difficulty Level for Berk and Bucks CEM

Post by southbucks3 »

Azure wrote:
southbucks3 wrote:As a direct, less emotional response I would see how quickly they can complete the tests in schofield and Simms mental maths level 4, if fast and correct, move on to level 5. These two books seem to be a realistic level of attainment for 9/10 year olds. Obviously not a complete picture but a good start.
Please, what is a 'fast' time for these books? My DS is half way through level 5 in year 5 and does them around 35-50 mins depending how tired he is. What times should they be achieving a finished paper to level 5a/6c?
Are we talking about the same thing? The mental maths book?
Each page has A,B,C questions, C being the wordier ones? Supposed to take 20mins.

My boy is getting to the end of book four now, he completes the three sections in about 25-30 minutes, but will still leave a few section c questions that throw him by their format, and gets upset and stares at questions for 5 mins occasionally if I am not around to poke him.

Have not tried him on book 5 and do not intend to until he has finished book 4 in a few weeks time. He is not a confident mathematician though and we are not aiming for grammar school, but he does not want to opt out of the test either. He is achieving level 5c and 5b in school Sat tests for maths and the books have helped a lot, which is very pleasing for him, he is also a summer baby.
abc72
Posts: 63
Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2014 12:48 am

Re: Maths Difficulty Level for Berk and Bucks CEM

Post by abc72 »

Hi,

when I try mental arithmetic book 5, amazon brings mental arithmetic book 5 (book 6 of 7). What does book 6 of 7 within brackets signify? Can someone explain please.

Also, the GL Assessment maths papers - are they good for bucks cem?

really value all your inputs.
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: Maths Difficulty Level for Berk and Bucks CEM

Post by yoyo123 »

I don't have any knowledge of the CEM papers, but one thing I notice from teaching KS2 maths is that knowing your tables inside out frees up a lot of time for figuring out more wordy questions. Also the "sets of three numbers" eg 3,8, 24: 9,7,63 tend to jump out at you and give you some idea of how to tackle the question.

I know at one time it was unfashionable to learn tables, but they come into most areas of maths at this level.

There are lots of fun online games to speed up tables.
Quick mental addition and subtraction helps a lot too.
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